The Super Summary of World History - Alan Dale Daniel [63]
Figure 22 Meso-American Cultural Sites (Maya)
What these civilizations did not have in common with the Middle East, Europe, and Asia was herd animal husbandry. Unlike all the Middle Eastern civilizations, they did not have herd animals such as cows, horses, and sheep. In addition, their crops were corn based. Wheat and barley crops were unknown to them. The largest omission from their civilizations, in terms of inventions, was the wheel. None of the Native American cultures had invented the wheel even though they had round calendars, and some of their toys had wheels. They also did not have gunpowder, cannons, or rifles. In Europe, rifles were in use by 1520, and they were using cannons in 1320. These weapons were the difference between victory and defeat for the Native Americans in the Aztec and Inca Empires.
As these cultures grew up in isolation from cultures in the Middle East, but ended up much like them, it may be an indication of the universal underpinnings of human thought. Their gods were multiple, and they demanded sacrifices of blood. This was common in Mesopotamia even though the practice of human sacrifice was not so widely used. In Mesopotamia and Egypt, the inhabitants constructed pyramids with steps,[67] which were a lot like those constructed in Meso-America. How is it that at least two widely separated cultures developed the pyramid as a shape for worshiping their gods?[68] Contact between these cultures is improbable, and they did not jointly emerge from a common civilization. Instead, I think inbred human personality traits are the common point of origin for a belief in gods, the geometric structures constructed to worship these gods, the warfare and sacrifice desired by the gods, the drive for domination over others, and many other things. If widely separated cultures develop much the same way with beliefs in conquest, war, gods, sacrifice to the gods, and massive buildings for ceremonial centers, it seems what was inside the people drove them to these beliefs and actions. We should note that cultures in China, Japan, Southeast Asia, and many other locals developed similar beliefs, even if their buildings were not the same.
These native empires started in Mexico, north of the Yucatan Peninsula on the Gulf Coast about 1200 BC. The first were the Olmecs, who existed from about 1200 BC to 400 BC. Some doubt the Olmecs were an empire at all because their artifacts are restricted to a rather small region; however, they did construct substantial ceremonial centers with what seems to be an astronomical alignment, and these had pyramids and large plazas. The most conspicuous artifact left behind were gigantic stone heads with African facial features. This may indicate the culture was not of Native American origins; however, this is highly speculative. This culture vanished by 300 BC; why is open to speculation. Here we should note this is one of the few major civilizations growing up apart from a major river. The same is true of other Meso-American civilizations such as the Aztec, and the Inca in South America. In the Middle East, Turkey, India, and China the large empires grew up along major river systems.
About 300 BC, early Mayan civilization was starting in the area of Guatemala with intensive agriculture that included hillside terracing and canals. Composed complex hieroglyphics, the Mayan script was the most advanced system of writing in the Americas. Mayan math and astronomical skill enabled the invention of a highly accurate circular calendar that divided time into finite periods. It is said this legendary calendar predicts the end of the world in 2012. The Mayans, and probably the Olmecs, were involved in blood sacrifice, a tradition enduring through all the major Meso-American civilizations. Blood, it seems, was necessary to nourish the gods. As with subsequent civilizations in